Prof. Nguyen Kim Tuan teaching at DTU

Reporter: Is it true that the recent explosion of attacks to steal user information has increased the value of information security personnel? And is this why the major has become so attractive, with many applicants of late signing up for it?

Prof. Nguyen Kim Tuan: In the context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, network technology and the internet have made great progress, taking up key roles in almost all sectors - economy, commerce, and communications. For businesses, computer networks and the internet are not just a useful internal management tool, but they are also important for media and advertisement campaigns with big influence on the end users. However, exactly because of this strong technological development, the issue of information security at businesses has gone through many complex developments, with an influence on socioeconomic development and national defense and security.

In light of this situation, not only organizations and businesses but even individual internet users have a demand for protection now that the number of attacks and user information thefts is increasing much more rapidly. This is why information security experts are very highly in demand in many countries around the world, including in Vietnam. This is also why this major has been enjoying such interest of parents and applicants alike in recent years.

DTU’s ISITDTU team ranks first in Vietnam and eighteenth of the world on the CTFTime ranking

Reporter: As it is such an important major, what are the strengths of the curriculum DTU created to make a difference for its information security students?

Prof. Nguyen Kim Tuan: As it is one of the first fields the university started investing in when it had just been founded, DTU is confident of the unequivocal strengths of its information technology majors. Among them, one should mention the collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), one of the four strongest universities in information technology in the US, which started in 2008 for the transfer of curriculums and the training of its lecturers.

Right from their first year, students are equipped with basic knowledge of network technology and network security. In addition to its highly experienced lecturers, DTU also pays a lot of attention to investing in modern equipment and specialized labs where students can catch up with technological developments and with the requirements of working in the 4.0 Industrial Revolution. 

The open lab system here allows students to actively experiment with real-world attack and defense models on networks. The university furthermore regularly invites IT experts from all over the country to lecture and to exchange practical and specialized experience in network attack and defense with its students. The university also creates opportunities for students to take part in big practical information security contests in Vietnam and abroad to accumulate hands-on experience before they graduate.

Reporter: Is that also how we can understand why DTU students always ranks first in information security contests in Central Vietnam and in the top of national and international information security contests?

Prof. Nguyen Kim Tuan: In the last seven years, DTU students of information security have always been in the top of Central Vietnam and the Central Highlands. They have always been present in the national finals of national information security contests and of contests organized by big corporations, such as “Students with Information Security” (organized by the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Information Security Association), WhiteHatCTF (organized by BKAV), SecAthon VNPT (organized by VNPT), and MeepwnCTF (organized by information security company VNSecurity).

Just in 2018 and 2019, DTU students of information security have been continuously reaping big prizes, such as a second prize in the VNPT SecAthon 2018, a third prize and a fourth place in the 2018 national “Students with Information Security” contest, and a fourth place at the 2018 MastesCTF contest.

DTU’s ISITDTU team outstandingly ended in the top ten (ranking 8th out of 65 teams) in the finals of the quite challenging and famous Swiss Insomni’hack practical information security contest in March 2019.

In particular, the ISITDTU team overcame 318 teams to capture the first prize in the Byte Bandits CTF 2019 contest on April 13, 2019. This is a prestigious international online practical information security contest organized by the Indian National Institute of Science and Technology. This first prize pushed the ISITDTU team to first position in Vietnam and eighteenth position of the world on the CTFTime ranking.

Vietnam Information Security Association awarding DTU a certificate of merit

Reporter: In questions they send to DTU, applicants are very keen to know more about “pentesters” (penetration testers), an emerging phenomenon considered to be a type of expert contributing considerably to guaranteeing network security. Can you tell us more about this, that applicants thinking of pursuing this major can gain a better understanding of it?

Prof. Nguyen Kim Tuan: In recent years, the demand for online transactions has been on the rise. Computer networks and the internet have brought considerable benefits to users, organizations, businesses, and to all of society. However, this has come with the potential for substantial risks, as network attacks are growing in number and scale, with consequences that can be difficult to assess and, in particular, with the level of expertise and acumen of attackers a rising source of concern.

For these reasons, organizations and businesses nowadays are aware of the need to go through penetration testing before a product or system can start operations, to ensure it will run with the highest possible security. Pentesters are highly qualified people tasked with testing information security and attempting intrusions to guarantee network information security. To put it in a simpler way, testers test the quality of software products, while pentesters test the information security strength of information systems - such as of web applications, network system infrastructure, network server systems, and information security policies of organizations and businesses.

DTU delivers high-quality pentesters to society, which is why applicants who wish to become true pentesters should come to DTU and study information technology. 

Reporter: After several years of offering training, DTU has split information security into a separate major. It this how we can see the strength of the information security training the university offers?

Prof. Nguyen Kim Tuan: One can say that, thanks to the long-time intersection of many factors such as experience in computer and network engineering training, the transfer of network security curriculums from the American CMU, and the focus on investment in specialized network and information security practice rooms at the university.

The DTU Faculty of Information Technology and International School have been providing society with high-quality people with the capabilities necessary to work in network management and information security. Meanwhile, DTU students of network technology have been setting down a great many achievements in practical information security contests in Vietnam and abroad. This has been acknowledged by the Vietnam Information Security Association, the Ministry of Education and Training, and big and small businesses active in information security in the entire country. This allows DTU to confidently train information security experts.

In 2020, DTU continues awarding a several preferential scholarships to Information Technology applicants:

  - 700 scholarships, worth from 500 thousand to 2 million VND for high-school transcript applicants, with 22 points or higher (grade 12 average scores; early grade 11 and first term grade 12 results);

- 450 DTU scholarships, worth from 1 to 5 million VND for applicants with a total High School Graduation Exam three-subject score from 5 to 10 points higher than the admissions minimum;

- 15 full scholarships: 100% of tuition fee to applicants to the advanced and international CMU programs, with a total High School Graduation Exam three-subject score of 23 or above;

- 15 scholarships from aircraft manufacturer Boeing (US) for the CMU program worth 20 million VND each;

-  10 scholarships, 5 million dong each, to applicants of the advanced and international CMU programs;

- 130 Talent (full and partial) scholarships to foreign applicants and 90 Talent (full and partial) scholarships to Vietnamese applicants enrolled in Big Data & Machine Learning (HP) and Artificial Intelligence (HP);

- 50 full and partial scholarships, worth 18 billion dong in total, to applicants signing up for the American Degree Program, Troy Advanced Software Engineering major.  

Subject sets for admission

For detailed information, please contact the DTU Enrollment Center

254 Nguyen Van Linh, Danang

Hotlines: 1900.2252 - 0905.294390 - 0905.294391

Website: http://tuyensinh.duytan.edu.vn

Email: tuyensinh@duytan.edu